Premium
Differentiation of Folate‐Receptor‐Positive and ‐Negative Cells Using a Substrate‐Mimicking Fluorescent Probe
Author(s) -
Pal Kaushik,
Heinsch Angela,
Berkessel Albrecht,
Koner Apurba L.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201703305
Subject(s) - fluorescence , folate receptor , fluorophore , substrate (aquarium) , receptor , chemistry , pterin , conjugated system , biophysics , biochemistry , biology , enzyme , cancer cell , organic chemistry , ecology , physics , cancer , quantum mechanics , cofactor , genetics , polymer
Diagnosis and therapy exploiting overexpressed receptors on the cell surface is one important strategy in medicine. Determination of the over expression level of a particular receptor is prerequisite for it to be of clinical use. Differentiation between FR‐positive (FR=folate receptor) and ‐negative cells via fluorescence microscopy using a substrate mimetic fluorophore is presented in this work. The strategy adopted here is not the classical FA‐conjugated (FA=folic acid) fluorescent probe but a small and environment‐sensitive pterin‐based (pterin is part of folate, i.e., vitamin B9) fluorescent probe. Electronically diverse pterin‐based fluorescent probes have been designed and synthesized to understand the effect of the binding environment on the receptor–substrate interactions. By utilizing steady‐state UV/Vis and fluorescence along with time‐resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, the effects on the electronic and acid‐base properties of the substrate were investigated. Evidently, one synthesized probe showed FA‐mimicking behavior with strong binding interaction with FR.